What a whirlwind. started house showings Monday, October 26
ended showings Nov 2 (Monday)
1 week and 15 showings
Joyce came for her birthday the same week (Wednesday) and was here for the offer we received.
460 was their offer. we countered from 479.8 down to 473. they countered 465 and it appeared they weren’t wanting to go any higher but were coaxed into going another thousand. final offer 466. It all felt so impersonal and cold trying to guess why they weren’t really prepared to negotiate much on price. I asked Rob two things: to indicate what they were prepared to offer to bridge the gap to our preferred lowest price of 470 and also if i could get the buyers number to call them and hear their story…make things a bit more personal and see if that changed things for us. Rob offered to pitch in 2,000 and got me their phone number and said they were completely willing to talk to us. I thought Rob’s offer was weak and later told him that was the one element that disappointed me. I didn’t want him to feel backed into a corner and wanted him to feel he had a choice so i told him we would go ahead with the deal regardless but i felt he had an opportunity here to be generous and still come out ahead in the deal. He explained that the number he had suggested came from the fact that his partner didn’t think they should contribute any of the commission but he understood my point and decided right there to double their contribution and bridge the gap. I’m happy for his sake that he chose well there and didn’t give that ground over to greed. it really was an awkward and vulnerable process to have him representing both the buyer and seller (dual agent) when what we were paying him for was to advise us through this process.
i got to talk to Misty. she told me how she had trained at Hillsongs in Australia where she had met her husband. He was quite a bit younger than her, they were starting out, 2 years married, their first home. They had seen a lot of homes, some were a little more updated than ours even and logically seemed to check out but they both agreed it didn’t feel right and they didn’t have a peace about the places. she said when they walked into ours it just felt peaceful to them and they agreed it felt like they could feel at home there. How awesome is that? I told her we worship God in our home with our kids and have been praying that God would bring the people he wanted to be here. She was excited to learn we love God too.
Today was the house inspection, went over 3 hours and we came home while they were still here. we ended up hanging around a little and chatting and would like to get together with them again. They haven’t yet told us if they have any concerns that affect their offer but we’ll find out soon.
Also, when we came home i went to the mailbox first before going inside and found two letters from Montreal for my immigration process. We now have an appointment date of December 21. it’s crazy how this is all coming together so fast…our heads are spinning. It’s all slow for so long and looks like the trail is going nowhere and then boom, you’re on the accelerated circus ride. I half expected this would happen, but it sure has my adrenaline firing.
